I'm staring at the ceiling. I can't move at all. So I fainted again? I guess it was the Lele fruit after all? It feels like I ate a bit of it just moments ago, but when I listen, I don't hear anyone else in the room. Emily isn't here anymore. The ceiling is definitely mine, so I guess I wasn't taken to the recovery room when I fainted this time. Maybe because I was already in my own bed?
But why the Lele fruit? Why does it make me faint like that? And why can't I use my mana when it happens? Now that I'm more familiar with the feeling, I grope around inside myself, trying to push, pull, or otherwise control my mana. But it just kind of feels... numb. It doesn't respond. Like it's fallen asleep or something. It kind of just drifts and clumps.
Wait, my mana clumps? I thought it felt more like a sort of water maybe, how it filled me up pretty consistently. But now that I don't have any control, it definitely has some places where it is forming into tighter collections.
I close my eyes, trying to feel it as well as I can. It's hard because it's so numb. It doesn't really feel like anything. Well, I have nothing but time now. I wait, focusing on the feeling while the effect slowly wears off, a tiny bit at a time. I intentionally keep from interacting with my mana, just observing closely as the feeling returns over a long stretch of time.
Eventually, I think I can get a better idea of the feeling from watching it. It feels sort of dark. Like a hole almost. Like a gap that sucks in everything around it. Or a dip, which things roll down into. So it's like the opposite of light mana, which repels. I guess I can call it dark mana. It's so much harder to feel than the other types, since it doesn't really push against the other mana around it. It just kind of draws the other mana in toward itself. Which it can't even really do normally, when I'm in control of my own mana.
Huh, this is a very odd type. I wonder where it came from anyway? I don't even know how much I have, it's impossible to tell with my faint grasp of dark mana. I'll have to figure it out when I get a better feeling for my mana. I've only been practicing recently, so I probably have a very, very long way to go.
For now, I just keep trying to move, to see when it will finally work. Both my mana and my body. It takes a much longer time than it did previously. I see the light coming in through the window dim as it grows late, but I can still hardly move beyond wiggling a little bit. I can still speak at least.
It isn't going to take take so long I miss dinner, is it? But now that I think about it, I'm not that hungry even though I've been asleep for days. Maybe someone fed me? Otherwise I would definitely be starving by now. Even so, all I can do is wait.
At some point, I try looking down inside like I did before, since it's easier with all of my mana numbed. I look at the well, all the way inside me. It still feels like it's filled to the brim, but it doesn't seem to be overflowing a tiny bit at a time anymore. I can't say for sure why, maybe it has to do with the lele fruit's effect. I try looking down into the well, stretching down deeper, but everything is dark just a short distance inside. I just can't see down below the surface at all.
Maybe I could try drawing out a little more to see what happens. The thought occurs to me as I look at the well. But... that's probably a really terrible idea when I actually consider it... The last time I'd already used a lot of mana. Just taking a little made it feel like I was going to burst from more than I could hold. I have no idea what would happen if I tried pulling out more now. Part of me wonders if it would help lift the effects of the lele fruit, but again, I have absolutely no idea and nothing to even base a theory on. I have no idea how any of this works. All I can do is try to puzzle things out myself. And now that I'm not in a seriously dangerous situation, throwing caution to the wind and trying any idea that pops into my head isn't necessary. Especially when the idea is one that I actually have good reason to believe would hurt me.
So for now, I just commit myself to observation. I watch my mana carefully as the fruit's effect wears off. I don't have anything in particular I'm looking for, and no idea what I might learn, so I just keep watching closely, trying to discover anything useful.
Unfortunately, there isn't much to see. The numbing-like effect keeps decreasing until my mana begins to sluggishly respond to my will again. I pay very careful attention when it happens, nudging my mana so it moves a bit as soon as it can. But that's about it. Without knowing more, I don't know what information I could even find from my observations. One moment it doesn't respond, the next it just barely begins to. I can't find anything beyond that right now.
I sigh while staring at the ceiling. It's really starting to get dark. I can see the sun through our open window. At the rate the numbness is receding, I should probably be mostly recovered by dinnertime. However, I obviously didn't go gathering today, so I guess I don't get dinner, do I?
For once, I lie wide awake. It's not surprising after apparently sleeping for two days. But it still feels weird being so clearly awake, especially as it gets dark. Even so, there's nothing to do but wait. Finally, the twelfth bell rings. Of course I can only tell by the following whistle, but that means it's time for dinner, so Emily should be home now.
I sit up slowly in bed. I can basically move again. I can't really summon any strength though, and I can only control my mana sluggishly, without any of the speed or fine control I've learned recently. Unfortunately, with my mana moving around a little now, I can't even feel a trace of that dark mana anymore. And of course I still have quite a bit of earth mana to deal with. Once I can actually control it again...
I wait for Emily, but it's taking her longer than usual to come up today. Maybe she thinks I'm still asleep? I decide to wait a little longer. Eventually, the door does open and she walks inside. I sit up, seeing that she's actually carrying two bowls with her. She brought the food up with her today?
"You're finally awake again?" she asks, looking really relieved.
"Yeah, how long was I out?"
"All through yesterday night, and you were still asleep when I left this morning."
I didn't wake up until pretty late, so... "Almost an entire day this time?" I ask. That's by far the longest time I've fainted so far. "At least I found out what causes it."
"The lele fruit I gave you right before you fainted? So that was it?"
"Yeah. It hit me as soon as I ate some. And now that I think about it, didn't you also treat my wounds with that too last time, when I got attacked by the hobin?"
"That's right, I did. So it actually keeps you from healing? That's so strange, it's supposed to be really helpful." Emily scratches her head looking a little frustrated.
"Don't worry about it so much. I can heal well enough on my own. I'll make sure I don't eat any in the future too," I grin.
"Yeah, I don't know how many more times I would be able to watch you faint like that before my heart gives out," Emily jokes. "So how are your injuries?" She sets the bowls to the side while reaching out for the sleeves of my robe. I hold my hand up so she can pull it back to take a look. There are still bandages wrapped around my arm, but they don't feel like they're treated with anything. I guess she wrapped them again while I was out.
Emily unwraps the one on my right arm and checks the worst injury, the knife wound. It still looks pretty bad, the skin all scabbed where it was ripped away with the bandages, but there isn't much of the fiery redness of infection anymore. It doesn't look like it got that much worse while I was knocked out by the lele fruit, which is a big relief. She nods a little. "It's kind of scary, but it looks a lot better than before. It seems like it's healing really well, actually," she comments. She briefly checks the knife wound on my other arm, then some of the bruising on my chest and the smaller cuts on my head, though those have mostly healed in the last two days I've been sleeping.
"You really do heal fast," she says, sounding awed. I can only shrug. This is how I healed whenever I was badly injured by the other rail units. Actually, it might be faster, considering how the fruit made it worse before it started getting better.
Finished checking my wounds, Emily passes me the bowl and sits down on the edge of her bed. I guess we're eating here. I slowly begin to eat the stew.
"So if it's been two days, today is... Veneday?" I ask, trying to recall the day's name.
"Venaday," Emily corrects my pronunciation.
"Venaday," I repeat, trying to get myself to remember it better. "Arcaday, Venaday, Saraday, Hureday, Firoday... uhh..."
"Nuvoday," Emily fills in where I forget.
"Nuvoday, Shanaday. Right. I think I'm starting to remember all of them." All the crazy stuff lately has sort of taken priority in my brain. Of course, now that I know that divine totem actually lets me talk directly to the gods, it's actually really important for me to finish learning the rest of them. Not just to fill in common knowledge, but because I might actually want to talk to them for whatever reason. Reena really saved me with her blessing. It sounds like a miracle that she blessed me, especially since I'm actually a rail unit. I have no idea why she would be more willing to bless me than a commoner though. They are at least people, so they're way more important than me. No matter her reason, I need to get the rest of the gods down quickly.
"Hey Emily, I really want to find out about the rest of the gods," I tell her.
"Hmm," she hums in response, then nods. I don't know how much of my train of thought she has thought through on her own, but she asks, "So which ones do you remember?"
I clear my throat, trying to recite them. It helps to go through in the same order they were introduced. "Arcanas, Venar, Herat, Saras, Hurena..." I think for a bit. The next three were the sun and moon ones, right? "Firos, Nuvo, and Shana. I also know of Reena, Rostor, and Baro, but we haven't really covered them yet."
"Pretty much, though Shana comes before Firos and Nuvo," she makes a small correction.
"Huh, I'm still a bit confused by that. Why are the gods ordered like that anyway?"
"We mentioned how the gods created the other gods, right? It's based on the order they were created."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," I nod at the simple explanation. "So last time we talked about Shana, Firos, and Nuvo. But I don't think you really got into the details. Could you explain those a little better?"
"Sure. First there's Shana, Goddess of the Large Moon and Water."
"Water?" I tilt my head. That seems weirdly unrelated to the moon though.
"It's because the large moon controls the water and tides. It even brings the monsoon, which would normally be Saras' domain."
"Sorry, what's a monsoon?"
"In spring we get a ton of rain constantly. That's the monsoon, it's caused by the large moon, apparently."
"Why the moon though? You said it would normally fall under Saras because it's weather related." I don't understand. If it's seasonal rain, how does that not fall under weather?
"Uhh... I don't really know." Emily just shrugs. "They always said the moon causes the monsoon."
"Huh...." I mutter, apparently she doesn't understand how it works either.
"Anyway, the large moon is always related with water. It controlled the waters that brought life to the land, which is also why we relate Shana to life too." I nod slowly. So the large moon, the water it controls, and the life that comes from that water.
"Ok, I think I understand that one now. I know Shanaday is named after her, what about a month?"
"Shana's month is Shaw. It's the fourth month, after Arbor. It's named for her because it's when we get the monsoon," she explains simply. I just nod along. That one is more straightforward than a lot of the other months.
"Ok, I think I have a pretty good grasp on Shana, what about the others?" Emily takes a few moments, probably recalling the next ones to recite.
"Firos and Nuvo were also created together. Firos is The God of the Sun and Light. You already know about Firoday. His month is Filar, the month of light. It's named after Firos because it's when the sun is in the sky the longest. The longest day of the year is the last day of Filar," Emily holds up a finger as she explains this point.
"Huh..." I try to wrap my head around this explanation. I kind of thought it felt like the days were getting longer. I guess it was true after all. "So what day is it? How much longer until the longest day?"
"It's coming up pretty soon." That doesn't answer my question though.
"Pretty soon? Do you know how many more days?"
She just shrugs. "Probably less than fifteen days." Why so vague?
"Wait, you don't know exactly what day of the month it is today?" She just shakes her head that she doesn't. "Is it, like, not important to know that?" I ask. I don't understand how she doesn't care about the topic.
"Not really." She says it like it really doesn't matter at all. That makes me think about it a little more closely. What good would knowing the exact day be?
...
I can't think of anything. So that's why she doesn't care. At least as far as I'm aware, there isn't anything I need to know based on the specific day of the month or year. Church is on Shanadays, but since weeks are seven days long and months are thirty days long, Shanadays won't even line up on the same days of the month each month. So just having a general idea of which part of the month it is should be good enough.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
I nod. "I see, so that's not important..." So I move on. "After Firos is Nuvo?"
"Yup. He's the opposite of Firos. Nuvo is The God of the Small Moon and Darkness."
"Why darkness?" The best I can think of is how the small moon is smaller so it doesn't provide as much light as the large moon.
"The small moon is related to darkness because it doesn't provide much light, and because it's never full," Emily explains, showing I was only half-right.
"Never full?" I don't quite understand that one. As far as I know, there should be a full moon every fourteen days. From the little I saw of the small moon, it looked like it also went through changes as the large moon. So why doesn't it also have a full moon?
"Every fourteen days is the full moon," she confirms what I already know. "Between them, seven days after the full moon, is the dark moon. It's the day that the small moon should be full, but instead, it's completely dark. It's the same day that the large moon doesn't provide any light, so it's completely dark on those nights. Every week, Shanaday will either be a full moon or a dark moon," she elaborates. I remember looking up at the full moon on Shanaday when I was being carried by that guard, so...
"So the dark moon will be this coming Shanaday?" I ask. Emily just nods. So that's why Nuvo and the small moon are related to darkness... "Which month is named for Nuvo?" I ask.
"Nunda, the last month of the year, is named after Nuvo. It's the darkest month, with the shortest days and longest nights. Like in Filar, the shortest day of the year is the last day of Nunda."
"So there are exactly six months between the longest day and shortest day of the year," I note. That should make it easier to keep those months straight, I think.
Uh, yeah, I guess there is." She seems to think about it for a few moments before dropping the thought.
"So that at least covers the details of those, what about the next one?" I ask. Emily glances down at her bowl, which is nearly empty, but then continues.
"Next is Rostor, The God of War and Destruction. Andy already mentioned Rostor with the story about him. He is the god who introduced war to humanity and drove us to fight one another. And I guess he made us stop fighting, when we started using monsters to fight instead..." She shudders a little. "Anyway, we didn't name a day after him, but his month is the ninth month, Rosen. It's right between Sarel and Hurven." Sarel and Hurven. Those are... Saras and Hurena's months. The eighth and tenth. It takes a few moments to recall. The names make great hints though. "Rosen is the month of war. It's the month when the weather is always stable, it's not too hot or cold, and the days are still pretty long. I guess that would be the best time to go to war?" She shrugs, obviously not knowing anything about war herself. I remember back to the story of Rostor Andy told us. It was one hundred years ago that Rostor introduced the divine gear, pushing normal people from the battlefield where they were replaced with rail units, right?
"That's about all there is to Rostor," Emily wraps up with him really fast. "Now, we should go return these bowls. Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I should be fine."
"Ok, let's go." We get up and walk out of the room together. As I thought, I don't have any trouble walking, even if I can't do much more than that. We go downstairs with Emily helping steady me on the stairs, and head toward the dining room. "Could you, uh, let them know I've been giving you food?" Emily asks, looking a bit embarrassed.
"You have?" I ask. I thought someone was feeding me while I was asleep, I guess I was right.
"Y-yeah. They let me take two bowls. I want to make sure they know I wasn't lying and taking extra servings." She scratches her head nervously.
"Oh, I see. I'll let them know." It's the least I can do if she's been feeding me while I've been sleeping for the last two days.
We arrive in the dining room after it is nearly emptied out. However, the few people inside seem to have their eyes glued to me. It doesn't take long to realize they're all staring at my robe. It is a seemingly unnatural shade of white unlike any other clothing I've ever seen. Of course they're all staring. I really, really need to get some new clothes that don't stand out so much. After getting kidnapped, the thought of strangers staring at me everywhere I go gives me so much anxiety it feels difficult to breathe for a moment.
I forcefully try to push those thoughts from my head as we walk over to the big kids responsible for cooking today. We return the bowls, even as they continue to stare down at my clothing. I clear my throat loudly, trying to get their attention on me, not just my clothes.
"Emily told me you've been letting her take my share for me. Thank you very much." I bow while I hand back the bowl.
"Aahh..." the big kid says absentmindedly. "It's no problem I guess..." Emily smiles, hands back her bowl as well, and we turn to head back upstairs. The room is already filled with our roommates. They give us the ok to talk while they all settle in for the night.
Once we sit back on our beds, Emily starts speaking again. "So, the last of the gods are a bit different than the others," she begins.
"Different? Different how?"
"The rest of the gods were created by Arcanas or Herat, to make the world more orderly or chaotic. The last three are the only ones not created by them, so they're much more, uhh, specialized. And a lot less powerful. So the others are sometimes called the Higher Gods, or Upper Gods, while these ones are called the Lower Gods." I nod slowly at her explanation, though I'm not sure I understand it completely.
"You mentioned that before, how the gods created others who were less powerful. So the less powerful gods created more, even weaker gods?" She nods back.
"Exactly. I'm not too sure of all the details, but basically, it went something like this: After war was created, Shana and Hurena who nurtured all life up to that point, wanted to bring together the people split up by war, so they worked together to create Lila, The Goddess of Love and Family. I guess since they both worked together, Lila isn't all that much weaker, but still not as powerful as the other gods created by Arcanas or Herat," she explains. So, she's weaker, and only has control over people being in love and making families. I think I sort of have a grasp of the idea.
"Ok, Lila, Goddess of Love and Family," I repeat to remember it better.
"The fifth month is Lifas, the month of love. It comes between Shaw and Filar."
"Shaw for the large moon, Lifas for love, and Filar for sun." I go over all three to try and get the order and meanings better.
"Very good," she praises me. I nod seriously. I really want to remember all of these. With that, I've filled in all of the gods' names at least, since I already know of Reena and Baro. "Lifas is the month when most new children are conceived, so they will be born at the beginning of spring. Because children born in spring will be much stronger and better able to survive through winter than other children," she explains. I nod along, she did mention before that most children were born in Arbor. Since pregnancy lasts nine or ten months, of course new children would be conceived in the fifth month, so they can be born in the third month of the following year... I nod a few times as I see that the numbers line up. Still, is winter that bad, that everyone makes sure to give birth in spring?
Done with that explanation, Emily moves on once more. "From here, the last two gods are much weaker than the others, she begins, clearing her throat slightly. "Lila decided that people need to be happy and healthy to fall in love, so she created Baro, The God of Health and Prosperity."
"On her own?" I blink a few times. "Didn't you just say she was really weak because she wasn't created by the powerful gods?"
"Exactly. She was created by two gods, so it wasn't that bad for her. But she created Baro all on her own, so he can hardly be compared to the other gods." I nod a few times. I didn't expect the previous weakest god to create a far weaker one all on her own... "Although, he is a very important god since he holds dominion over health. So even if he's not as powerful, you see people pray to him constantly, and there are tons of stories of him granting blessings to all sorts of important people, saving them from illness and disease. Curing the wounded, enabling miraculous recoveries, and fending off plagues. Baro might be one of the most important gods to people, despite not being as powerful."
I nod slowly. Wow, so even with the little power he has, it sounds like Baro still helps a lot of people. "Oh, the same thing goes for Lila, even if she's not as powerful, basically everyone prays to her for luck in love and easy childbirth," she adds, like she just remembered now.
"Ok..."
"Anyway," getting right back on topic, "Baro gives his name to Bora, the seventh month. Between Filar and Sarel." It's the month in the middle of summer when everyone is at their most healthy, and children grow a lot."
"Children grow a lot?" I tilt my head.
"I guess it's from being healthy or something, but kids always grow a lot over the summer. You should be growing a lot soon too," she smiles encouragingly. I feel my heart flutter automatically. I can start to really grow?
Emily moves on once more. "Then there's the last god." Reena is the last god? I wonder idly. "Reena, The Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom." I nod. "She is... well, she doesn't really do anything."
I blink. "Doesn't... do anything?" I ask. But she granted me a blessing as soon as I asked for something...?
"For some reason, Baro decided that people need knowledge to live healthily I guess. So he created Reena."
"What?!" I my mouth falls open in astonishment. "But, but I thought he wasn't even comparable to the other gods? How powerful could a god created by him possibly be?" I ask.
Emily just shakes her head. "People call her The Powerless Goddess. I've never heard stories of her doing anything. No one really prays to her either. There's not really much point praying for knowledge anyway. It's not like praying for rain, if you want to learn, you can just do it normally, you know? Besides, there's not much to learn once we become adults, get jobs, or get married. Well, maybe there are things that important people like nobles want to learn," she shrugs, "but what's the use of praying to a powerless god?"
"Hmm..." I consider her words deeply. I guess it's just because I only started trying to catch up recently, but it feels like there are a limitless number of things to learn all the time. For someone like Emily who already knows all of the normal common sense things I don't, I guess there would be a lot less she needs to learn...
Then her her face scrunches with thought. "Actually, now that I think about it, you got that blessing from Reena, right? Of all the gods, why were you praying to her?"
"You what?!" All of our roommates shoot up in bed. So they were all listening again? I smile nervously as I realize this. Emily freezes too, knowing she just revealed something pretty extreme.
"Uhh, yeah, I guess so..." I say slowly.
"W-what sort of blessing is it?" Mary asks excitedly.
"That's uhh..." My mind spins over it quickly. There is so much more I've learned lately that it would take a lot of time to explain. And there's a ton of information that I really shouldn't even tell them about. I need to be extra careful too, since I still have a lot of earth mana to deal with.
I glance at Emily, but it looks like her lips are sealed after her blunder. She probably doesn't want to say anything else since she doesn't even know what's safe to talk about.
After a few moments, all I can come up with is, "It's actually really hard to explain. I'm not even completely sure myself. My current best guess is... uhh... kind of like an energy equivalent of a child's toy...?" They all look at me blankly. Of course that doesn't make any sense without a huge explanation of all the information that puts that in context. "I'm really sorry, like I said, there's actually a whole lot to it that is difficult to understand..." Not to mention, I'm not even free to talk about much of it. I can't tell anyone about mana since they could end up finding out I'm a rail unit if they ever mention it to anyone who knows about it. I only got Emily to agree not to mention mana to anyone by promising to tell her my secret.
"I don't really get it..." Eve chuckles a little.
"Sorry, I don't think I can really explain it well enough for you to understand," I shake my head. "I've been trying to figure it out myself after all. All I can really say is it's a sort of thing that doesn't do anything, but actually wound up being really useful for me anyway."
"Useful? Even though it doesn't do anything?" Jannette speaks up for once, raising an eyebrow.
"Surprisingly, yeah. It turns out that just by being there, it pushed me to learn a bunch of things I needed to learn..." I trail off as I say it. I don't want to ramble into more dangerous territory.
"Needed to learn? Like what?" Eve questions.
"Uhh... like, some stuff about myself, and some other things I guess... I can't really get into the details though..." I smile awkwardly while giving the uselessly vague explanation that is technically true. No one really responds to that one.
"Err..." Emily mumbles. "Well, I was trying to ask earlier... Why were you praying to Reena anyway?"
"Well, at the time, I couldn't think of which god to pray to, so I just tried repeating the same prayer I learned before." That just causes everyone to tilt their heads in confusion.
"What do you mean, 'prayer you learned before'?" Emily asks with an odd expression.
"Uhh, well," I scratch my cheek, "my first time in church, a nice lady next to me saw that I didn't know what to do when we were supposed to pray, so she said her prayer out loud so I could copy her. So I just said that prayer again the next time. Though, I think I might have gotten some of the words wrong...?" I look up at the ceiling, trying to remember, but I don't really know.
"Huh..." Emily mutters. No one else responds for a bit.
"So of all the gods, you were praying to Reena because you were repeating after someone else? And she actually wound up blessing you? That's crazy..." Eve shakes her head. Everyone agrees quietly.
The more I hear, the less I understand. Gods don't grant blessings to commoners, and Reena is The Powerless Goddess who doesn't grant blessings at all. I'm even lower than a peasant, not even a person, and wasn't praying to her for something I actually wanted or cared about, but she blessed me anyway? It just doesn't make any sense. Not a single part of it.
"I don't get it either. It doesn't make sense," I agree while shaking my head. There are way too many unknowns. "Anyway, thank you for teaching me about all of the gods, Emily." I bow while sitting on my bed, and she just giggles a little.
"It's no problem, you had to learn about them sometime. Now, let's get to sleep. We shouldn't keep everyone up any longer." Like she did before, she climbs into bed with me. The other girls don't even comment on it. I guess they've already seen, or rather heard, the huge difference it makes.
We lie quietly under Emily's blanket, eyes closed. I've been doing nothing but sleeping for days, so I'm not very tired. Even if I'm still injured, I've gotten so much rest lately, I'm just not that sleepy. I didn't even wake up that long ago.
So I just let my mind wander as I lie still. I go back over everything I've learned, all packed together in such a short span of time. My mana, the way it works, the different types, all the different metals and each of their unique, complex interactions. Then there are all of the gods, that I've finally gotten through and learned them all. I mentally recite the months to keep them all in my head. Vent, Herst, Arbor, Shaw, Lifas, Filar, Bora, Sarel, Rosen, Hurven... I stop. There's the eleventh month, then Nunda, the twelfth month. Since we covered all of the gods, the only missing one would be Reena's.
"Hey, Emily," I whisper.
"Yeah?" she asks quietly.
"What is Reena's month anyway?"
"Oh, it's Reeze, the eleventh month. I don't think there's much special about it. Probably just the last one we didn't have a name for I guess," she mutters sleepily. "Well, lots of bad and unlucky stuff happens, but that's about it..."
"T-thanks," I respond quietly, closing my eyes again. Bad and unlucky things? What does that even mean? I shake my head a little.
So those are all the gods and their months. I have a more solid grasp of the days of the week, since I use them more. That just leaves me at what to do next. I originally intended to live however I wanted until I went into combat, but with Reena's blessing as a hint, maybe there's some way for me to survive after all? I don't have very long left, so if I could find the answer, if there even is one, I need to do it fast.
As I said earlier, learning more about different metals is my most likely way forward. For that, I need to go back to the blacksmith. I'm sure he'll be able to explain some of the things I figured out, and maybe give me more clues to go on. I'll have to go there tomorrow, I don't have that much time. Now that I've decided to search for a solution, I'll give it my all. I hug tighter to Emily and try to get some sleep.
End of Book Two.